A wheelchair path in the forests of Geldrop was so bad for years that it was jokingly called Paris-Dakar. It was full of bumps and potholes. Thanks to a successful signature campaign, the municipality took action. Wednesday was the festive unveiling of the brand new path. Still, it wasn’t completely hole-free when it opened.
Full of enthusiasm Henk van Buul (67) literally goes crazy with his wheelchair. He was allowed to open the new path. “This is fantastic! There is no need for a billiards layer here in the woods. We have freedom again.”
Yet the enthusiastic procession of wheelchair users soon comes to a halt, halfway down the path. “Look, there is still a hole here. A small minus”, Henk points out. “It is still a lot better than it was though,” he adds right away. There are also a few small holes further down. “The dots on the ‘i’ are this,” he says optimistically.
The path was built in 2001, in the forest near the residential care centers Berken en Heuvel. The path has deteriorated considerably in recent years. Bumps and potholes with pools of water defined the image. Even for pedestrians it was no longer pleasant to walk on it.
Local resident Peter van Stiphout (60) from Geldrop is not in a wheelchair himself, but heard the complaints. “I really couldn’t believe it was a wheelchair path. It was very run down. For years nothing had been done about it.” He did not accept the situation and went to war. He collected more than 200 signatures.
He even got Alderman Rob van Otterdijk to try out the path in a wheelchair. At the beginning of October, he drove through a large pothole a few times and acknowledged that it is impossible. “It has escaped the attention of the municipality in recent years,” the alderman admitted at the time. He promised to deal with it soon. So more than half a year later, there is a brand new layer.
The municipality also promises to fill the last gaps as soon as possible. “I will pass this on. We will tackle it and maintain it properly in the future,” promises alderman Peter Looijmans.